Saying Goodbye
by Alli-dunno
Summary: How can such a small phrase be so hard to say? As Link prepares to leave on a self-finding journey, he tries to express his thanks to his favorite farm girl with the simple phrase, but it proves much greater a challenge than he anticipated.


**A/n: **One-shots seem to be a thing with me… Another idea for a Malon/Link one-shot popped up in my head…Though it involves no death… Just a teeny bit of sadness at the end…

It takes place after OoT, when Link leaves for Termina… He said bye to Zelda, but did he say bye to Malon too? (He had Epona, but that doesn't necessarily mean he said bye to her…) This is my version of their last byes to each other…

Yay!

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own any aspect of Zelda whatsoever… So ha!

Is saying good-bye really the hardest thing to do? I hear people saying that it is…I hear that it is the most painful thing, the most difficult thing to do… But is that true?

I'm the Hero of Time… I've faced many bad things in my life and throughout my journeys… I was prophesized, according to the Princess, that I was to save the world from a crazy man… I've traveled in time, and when I defeated him, I was sent back to my previous life as a kid…But I've retained the wisdom and intelligence I gained as a hero in time…

After all of this, I am still conquering the question as to whether or not saying good-bye is hard…

For the first times in my life, I have to say what could be permanent good-byes… I've said good-bye to Navi…I've said bye to Zelda…I've said good-bye to Saria forever to the Sacred Realm…but there's one person I'm afraid to say good-bye too…

My best friend Malon…

Me…I'm afraid…

I've defeated bloodthirsty skeleton-zombie things trying to eat me, and yet I'm afraid to say good-bye to Malon…

But then again, I suppose being afraid of an angry, sad Malon is a reasonably easy thing to understand…

It's difficult… That one thing is bugging me so much that I feel like I'm going insane…

But I have to leave… Meaning I have to say good-bye… I have to find Navi…But I also have to find a new identity, a new adventure…Maybe I just want to take a vacation from Hyrule… Surely, wherever I go, I'll get dragged into an insane adventure… Adventure is probably a good thing…

So, if I have to leave, I have to say good-bye…

I'm not just going to leave without good-byes… Zelda would be sad, Saria would be sad… And Malon would be a bad mix of sad, angry, and confused… If I ever came back, Malon would murder me with a pitchfork for not saying good-bye first…

I'm not lying either…Hey, redheads have fiery personalities, okay?

"Oh, this is not going to be easy…" I say to myself as I walk at a leisurely pace through Hyrule Field… I put my hands behind my head and look up at the clear, blue sky… A sigh escaped my mouth as I continued to walk… I admired the sky…And it made me think: would the skies be this blue in the next world I go to?

After a couple of more minutes of drifting off in a daydream, I stop to see the structures in front of me: Lon Lon Ranch… It was time to face Malon…I didn't know what her reaction would be… I didn't want to know… But I had to... I'd regret it forever if I didn't say bye to her first…

How would she react? Would she cry, yell, freeze, pass out, or an unusual combination of them all…? I didn't want to know… But it was now or never…

Picking up my pace down the dirt trails, I sped up to a steady jog for the huge ranch… I ran for another minute before stopping in front of the huge gate… I looked up at them for a second… Then, I sucked in a deep breath before walking past the gates….

Upon entering the ranch, I immediately heard the usual sounds: cucco's squawking, horses whinnying, cows mooing and Talon snoring… The usual… I smelt an odd, but refreshing scent of hay, the stables, and milk… It was a welcoming sight for me… Walking past the house and barn, I walked out to the main, open area… A huge, gated corral stood before me… Horses roamed with cuccos (peacefully, surprisingly enough.) In the distance was a tall, grey silo…

"Now where is she?" I mutter to myself, rubbing the back of my neck with my hand… I look around the area, and then laid my eyes on the center of the corral… Slapping myself for being stupid, I saw a figure which was most likely Malon… I walked into the corral, and as I progressed towards Malon, her sweet singing officially confirmed her as Malon… I got far enough for her to see me…But I didn't have much of a chance to say hi…

"Link! Fairy boy!" Her excited squeals were so loud that people in Gerudo Valley could probably hear her… Malon ran towards me a surprisingly fast speed, and embraced me, knocking me to the ground…

"Uh…Hi Mal…" I say in a half-dazed voice.

"Fairy boy!" Malon exclaims again… Her sapphire-colored eyes met my own blue eyes as we stared at each other, sharing friendly smiles…

"Nice to see ya, Mal…" I smile.

"It'd better be nice…" She smirks, and slides off of me…Now we just sit in the grass, staring at each other.

"Why wouldn't it be?" I say.

"You know what I mean…" Malon rolls her eyes playfully. "But on to important matters…Where have you been?" She crosses her arms with a stern look on her face, demanding an answer…

"Hero things…" I hold my hands up in defense… "Really… It's busy being a kid and a hero at the same time…"

"I guess so…You're excused from maximum punishment…" Malon smiles…

"Do I want to know what maximum punishment is?" I eye the ranch girl carefully…

"Something unpleasant, how about that?" Malon smirks.

"Enough said…" I lift a hand. "I believe you…"

"Maximum punishment is the worst…" Malon laughs.

"I don't want to find out personally…" I lean back in the grass…

"Good…" Malon nods her head in victory, and leans back with me… "So…Fairy boy…What brought ya here anyway?"

"…" I gulp slightly… I was ready to tell her… "Well, Mal…I'm leaving…"

"What do you mean?" Malon inquires.

"Well…I don't know how else to put it…I'm leaving…as in leaving Hyrule…" I try to explain…

"Wait…" she pauses, as if trying to process it. "You're what!"

"…" I'm silent…  
"Y-you can't be leaving…What are you leaving for?" Malon sits up and stares down at me.

"I am leaving for many reasons, Mal…" I sit up too. "I'm leaving to find Navi…I'm leaving to explore new things and worlds…I'm leaving…maybe to find myself…Who knows? I don't have much left here…"

"I'm not enough?" Malon asks in quavering voice… I can see tears welling up in her bright, blue eyes…

"…Wait, don't cry…" I stare at her… "I…What I mean is…I don't have much... is all…you're strictly immune to that…You're my best friend!"

"Then why are you leaving if I'm your best friend?" She asks, with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"…" I pause… "I don't want to leave you…" I start… "I just feel out of touch right now…Out of sorts… I think leaving Hyrule is the best thing for me right now…"

"O-okay…" Malon pauses… She wipes the couple of tears, and stares back at me… "W-will you ever come back?"

"…" I was silent… "I'm not sure… It depends… I'm not sure if I will, Mal…"

"Oh…" She's silent as she turns her head, forcing herself from my gaze. "So, you're not coming back?"

"I guess I'll say no…" I sigh. There's an uneasy silence between us… I look at Malon to see big tears rolling down her cheeks… I can hear muffled gasps as she cries… Did I really mean that much to her?

"…" Malon is completely silent… "I…I can't believe you're leaving me Fairy boy… I may not see you again… How do I deal with that?"

"I'm not sure, Mal…" I am giving short, blunt answers…I'm not exactly sure what to say… Another silence envelope us as we sit there…

We sit there for what seems like hours… I seemed to have lost track of time… Now we just sit there in an uncomfortable silence….

"Fairy boy?" Malon finally speaks, and turns to me. "Will you promise me one thing?"

"Um…Sure…" I turn to meet her gaze.

"Promise that you'll never forget me?" Malon says.

"…" I freeze… For once, I'm thoroughly speechless.

"Answer me, will ya?" Malon stares at me intently. "Will you promise to remember me or what?"

"Yes…" I say. "Of course I wouldn't forget you…"

"Good…" Malon nods her head. "So, you promise that you won't forget me?"

"I swear…" I hold up a hand. "I won't forget about you at all…"

"…" we stare at each other for a minute…

"I just want one more thing from you before you go off on your soul-searching journey… If you do come back one day, promise me that I will be the first person you come see? Before anyone, I'll be the first person you'll come see…" Malon stares at me with another fiery stare.

"That doesn't even require thinking, Mal…If I don't come see you first, I'll face maximum punishment…" I laugh.

"Good…I know you'll be afraid every waking moment…You'll fear my punishment… Just don't do something stupid and die?" Malon lifts an eyebrow at me… "I know you have the tendency to throw yourself into risky situations, and I don't want you to be a moron and die on your 'soul-searching/Navi-searching…If anyone gets to you first, it's me!"

"I completely promise to make sure that my killer is you." I bow my head.

"Thank you!" Malon laughs… "Now you're sworn…"

"Good…" I say… There's another long silence…

"When are you leaving?" Malon asks.

"After I leave here…." I say.

"Oh…" Malon sighs… I stand up, brushing my tunic off… I pull out my Ocarina, and quickly play melancholy tune…A chestnut colored filly runs towards me, nuzzling me.

"Ready for an adventure, Epona?" I pet her mane.

"I…I'll walk you two to the…door…" Malon stumbles on her words… She stands up, and brushes her cream-colored dress off…She picks a few pieces of grass, and turns to me… I gesture to Epona to follow…The filly follows and we both trail after the solemn redhead… Once to the gates, she stops and turns around…Epona stops behind me…

"Is this where we officially say good-bye?" Malon stares into me with her blue eyes… I look up and blue-meets-blue… I take a deep breath, and allow a sigh to escape my lips…

"I guess…" I say… There's a nervous kind of feeling in the pits of my stomach… I shift my feet back and forth…

"Oh…" Malon sighs again. "We may not see each other again, Fairy boy…"

"I don't want to say that, Mal…But…It may be true…" My voice cracks a bit…

"I may not see either of you…" She gazes longingly at Epona… "But at least I know you'll be together, right?"

"Sure…" I nod… Epona whinnies in agreement.

"…" Malon is silent, as I see new tears rolling down her cheek… I take another deep breath, using all of my energy to keep my composure…

"…" I shift my gaze to the side… Then I feel a nudging at my back… "What is it, girl?" I ask to Epona… She keeps nudging until I'm right in Malon's teary face…

"Fairy boy?" Malon stares up at me… I then suck it up and lean down, giving the redhead a light kiss on the cheek…

"…" Malon's tear-stained face reddens, as does mine… I feel warmth on my cheek; Malon kisses mine too…

"Now, I think this is where we say good-bye for good…" I hop on Epona… "Remember by that, okay?"

"Of course… Just remember my threats!" Malon calls as I begin to ride off…

"Of course!" I lift a hand and disappear in the distance as Malon's cries fade away…

I guess they're right… Saying good-bye is more difficult than anything you'd ever have to do… It's worse…

I have my eyes shut as Epona runs across Hyrule Fields… I feel like there are so many tears welled up… I can't let them out…

But then the thought of never seeing Malon, or anyone in general, pops in my mind like a faded slideshow, and I feel warm tears trailing down my face… Then, I just let it out, sobbing and gasping in small breaths…

Is this really it? Will I never see her again?

That's what I think… But…Why does it hurt so much? I suddenly feel empty… I feel vacant…but…I didn't think it would hurt SO much…

_"Promise me that you'll never forget me…" _Malon's voice rings in my head… I snap out of my lost thoughts, and that same statement runs over and over in my head…

_"Promise that you'll never forget me…"_

_"Promise that you'll never forget me…"_

_"Promise that you'll never forget me…"  
_

I keep hearing those words… And as I hear them, more tears flow…

I pat Epona and stroke her mane as she steadies to a trot…

But I promised that even though we said good-bye, that I'd never forget her…

And I intend to keep that promise…

No matter what… I will keep that promise…

"_Of course I wouldn't forget you…"_


End file.
